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Chapter : 16
Chapter 4. Isn’t There Any Problem? (1)
Its round little nose was moist.
A tiny muzzle, small white teeth visible between black lips, and a damp little tongue that appeared whenever it opened its mouth wide to yawn.
Its dense black fur shone with a healthy gloss, and its exposed belly gently rose and fell with each breath.
I wanted to touch its belly.
But that would be rude, right?
It would definitely be rude…
Then instead—
After staring at it from a distance for a while, I couldn’t resist anymore and buried my nose against its paw.
Sniff, sniff.
“I’m going crazy…. It smells so good….”
It was true.
What all those dog owners said—it was true.
This was insane.
I was going to get addicted….
Even though I was pressing my nose against its sensitive paw pads and sniffing repeatedly, the puppy slept soundly without waking up.
That was another heart-melting point.
‘This is a kid who is usually cautious and sensitive, but it trusts me completely….’
What was I supposed to do with this overwhelming emotion?
Silently covering my mouth, I pretended to sob.
I loved this so much.
I wanted to jump up and down with excitement!
But if I jumped now, the puppy would wake up.
So I couldn’t.
But I was so happy….
‘It already feels like I’ve succeeded in life….’
I was only three years old, yet I felt an absurd level of accomplishment.
“Do you like it that much?”
“Dad, shhh!”
“Hm?”
“The baby’ll wake up! Shhh!”
“If it was going to wake up from my voice, it would’ve already woken up when you grabbed its paw.”
For some reason, Father muttered in a slightly sulky tone.
I think Father’s pouting.
‘No way… probably not.’
He was an adult.
Besides, there was nothing for him to pout about.
I had only said the puppy was cute.
Mother, who had been watching, spoke up.
“Shana, your shoulders will hurt if you keep lying like that.”
“I’m okay. Ah, shhh….”
“The puppy won’t wake up, so don’t worry about talking. It must not have eaten or slept properly for days. After eating a huge meal, it fell asleep immediately.”
Mother helped me stand up and stroked my hair.
I wriggled a little because I didn’t want to move away from the cushion where the puppy was sleeping, but I couldn’t go against Mother’s wishes.
“If I’d known Shana liked puppies this much, I would’ve brought one home long ago.”
“Mm! I like puppies. Reaaally like them!”
“What do you like so much about them? I don’t really understand. To me, Shana is the prettiest and cutest.”
“’Cause it’s cute!”
“Hmm. Is it?”
Mother glanced at my fingers before looking down at the puppy.
Her eyes were still cold.
Unconsciously, I hid my fingers behind my back and continued.
“Its fur is soft too!”
“Shana’s hair is soft too.”
“An’ it’s warm an’ squishy!”
“The cheeks Mommy loves most are even softer and warmer.”
“An’ its nose is all moist!”
“Hmm, Shana, will you give Mommy a kiss on the cheek? Your lips are moist too.”
Mother pushed her face toward me insistently.
When she kept her mouth shut, she was an elegant beauty with incredible capability.
But around me, she was such a fool….
“And, and, um… it’ll get this big later!”
“Ah. Shana will grow too…. Shana, don’t grow up too fast….”
“When it gets this big, I can hug it tight!”
Father, sitting on the sofa, said,
“Dad’s big too. You can hug me, Shana.”
I answered sulkily.
“Dad isn’t… fluffy….”
“……”
He was too neat.
Of course, for a human, being neat was a good thing.
Father made an indescribable expression and muttered,
“Should I grow out my beard and hair?”
“Don’t. Shana likes your face too. She’ll hate it if you cover it up.”
“……”
I wished he wouldn’t aim for becoming more animal-like.
Thanks to Mother’s wise intervention, Father seemed to abandon the ridiculous idea.
Thank goodness.
Not that I would hate it, but Father’s face was too handsome to hide.
I hoped he’d keep showing off those absurdly perfect features that even suited slicked-back hair.
“It’s just cute…. Doggy….”
If someone asked why it was cute after I said it was cute, all I could answer was that it was cute because it was cute….
“The Shana who says ‘doggy’ is even cuter.”
“……Fine. I’m not talking to Mommy anymore.”
She didn’t understand my feelings.
Of course, people couldn’t truly understand each other’s hearts.
They couldn’t fully comprehend them, and unless you spoke them aloud, they wouldn’t be conveyed.
But I was still little, so it was okay to feel upset over things like this.
I sharply turned my head away and puffed out my cheeks.
Honestly, this worked better than frowning.
However, when I turned my head, I immediately saw the puppy lying there.
The muscles in my face that had been maintaining my fake pout instantly relaxed into a silly grin.
Ignoring the laughter that erupted behind me from my parents, I returned to the cushion.
This time I sat instead of lying down.
Pressing my palm against my warm red cheek, I let out the words bubbling up from deep inside.
“Cute….”
Was this what healing felt like?
Not that I had been suffering in the first place.
Well, emotional healing wasn’t only for when you were struggling.
You could enjoy it anytime….
“Seriously…. So tiny….”
I spread my hand wide.
Would it be about the size of two of my palms?
My hands were already very small, and it still only took up two palms.
How old was it?
‘When it was in human form, it looked older than me.’
It seemed about the same age as Raven, or perhaps slightly younger.
The same Raven who had grumbled, announced, “I’ll be back soon,” and then left.
‘Why is Raven coming back anyway? What is he, some phantom thief? Who leaves a weird advance notice like that?’
For the foreseeable future, I was going to be busy playing with the puppy.
“You really like it that much, Shana?”
“Yep!”
“Don’t you think there’s something you should say to Mommy and Daddy for allowing it?”
Ah.
Right.
I sprang to my feet.
If Mother hadn’t subtly reminded me, I would’ve completely forgotten.
First, I wrapped my arms around Mother’s neck and planted a loud kiss on her cheek.
“Mommy, thank you! I love you!”
“Mmm, Mommy loves Shana the most too!”
“No more kisses.”
I firmly pushed away Mother, who was about to shower my cheeks with return kisses.
If I let her continue, there was no telling when I’d be released.
Mother was cool, beautiful, and wonderful in every way—
except she was a little too persistent.
Then I climbed down from the sofa and walked toward Father, who was already kneeling on the floor with an expectant look.
When spending time with my parents in the living room, I didn’t have to wear those squeaky shoes.
It was great.
I wrapped my arms around Father’s neck and planted a loud kiss on his clean-shaven cheek.
“Daddy, I love you! Thank you!”
“Shana…. Daddy loves you too.”
“U-uh…. Don’t cry….”
Father looked like some handsome movie star, but he got emotional and cried so easily.
Was he really the cold, intimidating person everyone described?
I hoped he behaved properly when he was outside….
‘I guess the rumors Maria heard were nonsense.’
Father’s eyes had already become teary with emotion.
I gently dabbed at the corners of his eyes with my sleeve.
“Shana!”
“Nope!”
Then I slipped away at the exact moment he tried to hug me.
Of course, Father was probably going easy on me.
“Shana, you hugged that beastman just fine!”
“Don’t compare yourself to a puppy, Dad….”
“Shana….”
“The puppy’s a baby! A baby!”
“……”
Father suddenly looked thoughtful, as if reflecting on his actions.
Good.
Pull yourself together, Father.
“Babies gotta be hugged tight and told they’re precious….”
Father—and Mother, who had somehow appeared beside him—both silently spread their arms wide.
What.
Why?
“……?”
“You said babies need hugs.”
“And they need to be told they’re precious.”
“……Not me!”
Honestly.
“Not me! Shana’s already three years old. Not a baby! A kid!”
“Shana will always be our baby.”
“Ugh, seriously….”
I understood that feeling.
No matter how old Mina became, even if she grew taller than me, she’d still look like a baby to me.
But these parents had a hopeless tendency to dote.
I needed to repeatedly drill into them:
“Shana is all grown up. Shana is an adult. Don’t treat her like a baby.”
Otherwise they’d embarrass me in front of other people.
If they treated me like a baby in front of Raven, I’d cry.
“Here! This is a real baby!”
“Hm?”
“It’s this tiny! A baby!”
“I don’t think so.”
Father immediately poured cold water on my argument again.
Hmph.
“What do you mean, no….”
“Beastmen are a race whose age cannot be judged by appearance.”
Mother kindly explained.
“When I saw her yesterday, she was about as tall as His Highness the Crown Prince. But when she’s a puppy, she looks only one or two months old. In that case, she’s probably around ten years old.”
“She’s this tiny! Ten years old?! She was an older sister?!”
“It’s impressive that she survived. She must belong to a long-lived species. Once fully grown, she’ll probably be powerful. But I’ve heard that species with long lifespans spend a very long time as younglings, and only a few survive.”
“There are also nobles with bad habits who try to raise them from childhood and turn them into guards.”
“Though most give up halfway through. Looking after them for ten or twenty years is difficult.”
My parents exchanged remarks.
“Wow…. That’s so cool….”
She looked so young, yet she’d already lived at least ten years.
‘Do you know how hard it is living as a baby?’
Even now, after finally developing enough muscles to run around on my own, I hadn’t forgotten the humiliations of infancy.
‘Those humiliating days when I couldn’t even clean myself after pooping unless someone helped….’
The era when the only way to tell others something was wrong was by swallowing my pride and crying,
“Waaah!”
Even if her human form appeared old enough to function normally, by her own standards she was probably still incredibly weak and frustrated.
Now this tiny puppy that fit into just two of my palms seemed worthy of admiration.
Looking at her affectionately, I carefully poked one of her paws.
I shouldn’t wake her up.
But I wanted to hear her cry.
Those sparkling black eyes had been so adorable.
Seeing how peacefully she slept, she must trust us now.
Ah, I wanted to talk to her.
I wanted to wake her—
Just then, Mother asked,
“What are you going to name her?”
